


So Far, So Great

by ChoChang



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hollywood, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/M, well it's like 2014 but close enough
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24883603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChoChang/pseuds/ChoChang
Summary: Ginny is in the bathtub scrolling through Instagram when she receives the news.She’d almost forgotten about that she’d even auditioned and she certainly hadn’t been expecting to hear back when she had. Fred and George had helped her make the tape over spring break but none of them had taken it very seriously. The advertisement that they’d seen on Facebook was so inconspicuous and unofficial-looking that it hadn’t seemed to warrant any degree of commitment and the resulting tape was a bundle of jump cuts and overly ironic captions and almost-meta one-liners set to an instrumental pop version of “Welcome to the Black Parade”. In other words, it was a mess. But they’d sent it in, all three of them laughing about it for all of five minutes before collectively putting it out of their minds.The Sonny With a Chance AU that literally only I wanted
Relationships: Ginny Weasley/Blaise Zabini
Kudos: 2





	So Far, So Great

Ginny is in the bathtub scrolling through Instagram when she receives the news. 

She’d almost forgotten about that she’d even auditioned and she certainly hadn’t been expecting to hear back when she had. Fred and George had helped her make the tape over spring break but none of them had taken it very seriously. The advertisement that they’d seen on Facebook was so inconspicuous and unofficial-looking that it hadn’t seemed to warrant any degree of commitment and the resulting tape was a bundle of jump cuts and overly ironic captions and almost-meta one-liners set to an instrumental pop version of “Welcome to the Black Parade”. In other words, it was a mess. But they’d sent it in, all three of them laughing about it for all of five minutes before collectively putting it out of their minds. 

She’s in the middle of watching a USWNT goal highlight when she gets a call from a number she doesn’t recognize. She briefly considers ignoring it but answers it anyway. She’s seen the clip 20 times already and the goal isn’t even that impressive. 

“Hello,” she says, poking her toes out of the water and inspecting the chipped polish on her nails - Off With Her Red, she’d gotten it on clearance from Target the week before.

“Hello, is this Ginevra Weasley?” asks an unfamiliar voice. It’s buoyant and friendly with the faintest trace of a Southern accent. 

“This is Ginny, yes,” she responds. The paint on her pinky toe has flaked off into an almost perfect heart.

“Hello, Ginny. My name is Nymphadora Tonks and I’m an assistant producer on the show Wildfire Whizbangs. Is this a good time?”

“Sure.” She sits up straight and sloshes water over the side of the tub. 

“Great! Do you remember the open casting call that we released two months ago?”

“Um,” she says dumbly. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I have the pleasure of letting you know that we’ve selected you to fill the opening on our cast. If you’re still interested, that is.”

Ginny shrieks and narrowly avoids dropping her phone into the water.

* * *

In the end, it’s surprisingly easy to convince her parents to pack up and move to LA. She and Ron are the only ones who still live at home and conveniently, there’s a position open at the Customs & Border Protection office in LA that her dad is a shoe-in for, seeing as he’s worked for them for nearly 25 years. The job has a newer, fancier title and a marginal pay increase but the real clinching factor is the fact that Bill moved to LA two years ago when he graduated college and her mom has been pining for him every day since.

Everything happens rather quickly and within two weeks, she and her mom are on a one-way flight out of DTW with suitcases stuffed full of the essentials. Her dad and Ron are supposed to follow later, once she and her mom have found a suitable place to live for the four of them plus any of her brothers that decide to drop in.

It’s the first flight she’s ever been on and she’s not disappointed. The studio bought them first-class tickets and she feels unreasonably posh given the fact that she’s wearing frayed cut-offs and dollar flip-flops from Old Navy. Her mom tells her not to get used to it but Ginny can tell that she enjoys the free alcohol and the early boarding. 

Ginny is not normally one to sit still and she’s especially not when she’s as excited as she is. It’s a five-hour flight and she does her best to distract herself, alternating between clips from past seasons of Wildfire Whizbangs and highlights from the France vs Honduras World Cup match that took place the day before. She’s trying to learn as much as she can about the show and the current cast before she joins them but she can’t concentrate and her mom tells Ginny to stop bouncing in her seat and let her sleep five times before she gives up and starts playing Candy Crush to give her hands something to do.

The studio has been generous enough to put them up in a hotel for a couple of weeks to give them a chance to find temporary accommodations. It’s nice, nothing ostentatious but certainly better than the cheap motels they’d stayed in on the few weekend trips they’d taken Up North when she was younger. They get takeout from a Mexican restaurant the block over and Ginny revels in the plush white comforter and the queen-sized bed that she doesn’t have to share. Her mom is in such a good mood that she doesn’t say anything when Ginny leaves her dirty clothes dangling over the back of the desk chair.

The studio sends a car to get them at 8:00 the next morning. It’s driven by a tall, skinny man who introduces himself as Stan. He doesn’t look that much older than her, a fact that is reflected in his driving. As she watches her mom’s face turn steadily greener, she wonders how someone who seems to have no depth perception can make a living driving people.

They’re given visitors’ passes at the entry gate and escorted to a drab, square concrete building in a sea of drab, square concrete buildings. A harassed-looking intern leads them down a series of navy carpeted hallways lined with posters and signed headshots of various actors and talent. They’re deposited in the sterile waiting room of an office labeled “Nymphadora Tonks, Assistant Producer”. It contains two vinyl chairs, a wilting potted plant in the corner, and an assistant typing away on the computer. He introduces himself as Lee and offers them a tray of hard candies.

They’ve barely sat down when a surprisingly young woman with shockingly pink hair and a loud rainbow button-up bounces out of the inner office. Her mom looks slightly taken aback but Ginny likes her immediately. 

“Hey there! I’m sorry for making y’all wait but I was on the phone with corporate and they would just not stop talking.” She rolls her eyes conspiratorially as if to say, “You know how it is”. Her Southern accent is more pronounced than it was on the phone, syrupy and charmingly warm in the dull coolness of the waiting room.

“Welcome to Hogwarts Studios!” she continues. “I’m Tonks and we’re all super excited to have you here, Ginny,” she says, reaching out to shake Ginny’s hand before turning to her mom, “and you must be Molly. Come on in.”

She leads them into her office, a larger, almost excessively personalized room. Awards and photos cover the walls and the desk. Ginny sees several of the Wildfire Whizbang cast members in some of them, along with more than a few of a chubby toddler with bright blue eyes and a tired but happy-looking man with a penchant for neutral tones and neckties. 

They go over paperwork that she’s already filled out and have her sign some forms and load her up with an excessive amount of information that she’s not sure she’ll remember, stuff about confidentiality agreements and tutoring and studio policies. “Thorough” is the nicest way that Ginny can think to describe it but Tonks is funny and patient and by the end of their several-hour long meeting, she feels reasonably sure that she won’t inadvertently end up violating her contract in some devastating and public way. Tonks sends them to the cafeteria to grab a quick lunch with the promise of a personal tour through the studio after.

The cafeteria is similar to the on-campus ones she’s been to on the few occasions that they’d visited her brothers at college but the food is much better and the lines are much shorter. There aren’t that many people there for it being lunchtime but the people that are there are, for the most part, shoveling down their lunches and constantly checking their cell phones. 

Lee stays with them and answers Molly and Ginny’s thousand questions good-naturedly. He knows a lot about the studio and the show and he assures them that the cast and crew all get along well. He does a surprisingly hilarious impression of several of the cast members and Ginny privately thinks that he would get along well with Fred and George. 

After lunch, Tonks takes them around the offices and to the set. They’re not filming today but there’s still a fair amount of people bustling around. Ginny feels a thrill when she sees the stage that’s about to become her new home. It looks exactly the same as it does on screen and yet it’s nothing like she expected. The vibrant multi-colored doors that make up the set walls look slightly chaotic in real life and the Christmas lights strung across them seem washed out in the harsh light of the overheads. Still, she loves it and she’s anxious to get on stage and start performing.

They’re heading toward the dressing rooms when Tonks’s phone starts to buzz.

“Damn,” she says, glancing down at her phone screen. “I have to take this, I’m so sorry. Do you have all of your things with you? I’ll have Lee escort you out and we can finish our tour tomorrow morning before the roundtable. You’ll finally be able to meet the rest of the cast and crew and get to work. It was great to meet you!”

She answers the call and rushes off before Ginny or Molly have a chance to react. Lee shrugs his shoulders apologetically.

“She does that sometimes. It comes with the territory. Come on, I’m sure you want a chance to relax before tomorrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea in the shower and felt like a genius. Sonny and Chad were the first ship that I can remember actively shipping and I love their dynamic with Blinny. I'm going to be editing it as I continue to write because I haven't exactly plotted it out but I so rarely feel inspired so I've got to take the bull by the horns before it runs away forever. Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think! You can find me on tumblr @nednickerson.


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